Seven days, six dead women. When will we wake up?

SIX people killed by terrorism in 20 years. Six women killed by violence last week. Why aren’t we calling this what it is — a national crisis, asks Sherele Moody.

SIX women were killed in the past week.

Sixty-two women have suffered violent deaths since January 1.

If this is not a national crisis, what the hell is?

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If a terrorist killed six people in Australia, our country would be in lock down.

Major emergencies would be called. Cops would be roaming our streets in greater numbers. Billions of dollars would be set aside for terror-thwarting activities.

When a shark took a bite out of two people a few weeks ago in Queensland, government officials gave the go ahead for six to be slaughtered.

People were warned to stay out of the water and more prevention measures were rolled out in the region.

What about the strawberry tampering? Well, we saw Prime Minister Scott Morrison talk broadly on the issue, slam the hooligans who ruined our country’s fave fruit, more money was directed towards ensuring businesses can afford security options and federal criminal sentencing options were increased.

But six women dying in a week in Australia? All I hear is crickets.

On October 6, a woman was stabbed to death in Rockingham, WA. A man was taken into police custody.

Police officers at Buffalo Creek Reserve Playground in Hunters Hill after the body of a woman was discovered. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The day before, on October 5, a mother was found dead in her home at Bellambi, New South Wales. Her five-month-old baby, thankfully unharmed, was near her body.

On the same day, police attended a house fire in Ballarat, Victoria. They found a woman dead. A man has been charged with her murder.

On October 4, Northern Territory cops charged a man with murder a after a woman died from assault wounds.

October 3, a woman’s body was found in a park at Hunters Hill in New South Wales. Media reported her hands were bound and a “dog collar” was around her neck. Police are yet to identify this victim and no one has been charged.

Also on October 3, police charged a man with murder following the death of 46-year-old Gayle Potter. Police allege the mother-of-three’s former husband deliberately ran Gayle down with a car at Traralgon in Victoria.

There is no doubt that it has been a bloody and horrific week in Australia.

It has also been a terrifying year for women in our country with 62 adult females now lost to an act of violence since January 1.

Eighteen children have also been killed in that period.

Men have been charged, or are suspected, in 71 of these killings and authorities allege domestic violence relates to about 70 per cent of the deaths. No one has been convicted.

These figures should disturb all Aussies — from Prime Minister Scott Morrison to you, the person reading these words.

If the violent deaths of 80 women and children is not a national catastrophe, what the bloody hell is?

As Jane Gilmore wrote earlier this year, a total of six Australians have died as a result of terrorism in 20 years — three of those killed were the terrorists themselves.

We spend $35 billion on national security each year compared to the roughly $160 million a year the Federal Government puts aside for combating domestic violence — a crime that is killing one woman a week.

Victorian mum-of-three killed Gayle Potter, 46, was run over. A man has been charged with her murder. Picture: Nine News

Our policy makers need to stand back and take stock and readdress the funding divide between a crime that kills less than one person a year and a crime that kills 52 women a year.

This money could see an even stronger focus on programs supporting survivors to leave safely because it is at the point of leaving that is the most dangerous.

We must build more refuges for women escaping violence, but even better, let’s erect housing specifically for perpetrators so mum can stay home with her kids.

We need to keep rolling respectful education programs. We should force every abuser to complete a behaviour change programs.

We must legislate tougher state and territory criminal sentencing options — a life taken should amount to a life spent behind bars.

Our PM needs to speak up. He needs to show Australian women that he has their backs and he needs to show Australian men that violence is never the answer and that they will be held to account.

Like it or not, it is the responsibility of all us to turn this around.

Of course, none of this matters if the underlying disrespectful attitudes towards women do not change.

Feminists, anti-violence activists, domestic abuse professionals, academics and other woke folk have been having this same conversation for decades.

We say the same damn thing every time a woman or child is killed, knowing of course that we are essentially preaching to the converted.

The war on women will continue unabated unless every single person in this country takes a stance against violence.

Until then, we will continue mourning grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, nieces, colleagues and friends.

Maybe the next victim won’t be connected to you. But maybe she will.

If losing six women to violence is not enough to make our nation act, what will?

For more engaging opinons, head to RendezView.com.au.

News Corp journalist Sherele Moody is the recipient of the 2018 BandT Women in Media Social Change Maker Award and has multiple Clarion and Walkley Our Watch journalism excellence awards for her work reducing violence against women and children. She is also the founder of The RED HEART Campaign and the creator of the Femicide Australia Map.

For 24-hour domestic violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.

Originally published as Seven days, six dead women. When will we wake up?